Last Request
by Heart of the Matter
Summary: Companion piece to 'Goodnight, My Love'  role-reversal  - Sure I can accept that we're going nowhere, but one last time... let's go there. Lay down beside me. Grant my last request and just let me hold you...


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**Disclaimer - These are not my characters. I just like to play around with them.**

**A/N - This is a companion piece to Goodnight, My Love. I've reversed their roles and changed the song. The story is inspired by the song Last Request by Paolo Nutini.**

**Last Request**

_**Slow down, Lie down,  
Remember it's just you and me.  
Don't sell out, bow out,  
Remember how this used to be.  
I just want you closer,  
Is that alright?  
Baby let's get closer tonight**_

Soft, beautiful crystals of snow fell from the darkening sky majestically, covering the vast ground of the Hogwarts castle in sheer white. The night was still and silent, not murmur or a breath could be heard through the long, empty corridors and the deserted student dorms. The snow that covered the grassy acres surrounding this colossal stone structure lay undisturbed and pure, without even a single footstep to break its perfection. As twilight approached, the full moon once again won dominance over the sun, rising proudly, looking down from the heavens at the only two persons that resided in a high tower of the castle. Both were separated by merely a wall, uncommunicative yet conscious of the other's presence.

It was the night before Christmas, where one lay on her bed, alone, reading, and the other lay on his, drowning in contemplative sorrow. She tried to divert her mind from his thoughts, focusing on her book and the work that had to be done; he did no such thing. His mind was filled with thoughts of her, everything that he had once hated, everything that he now loved: her infectious smile, her chestnut curls, her caring chocolate eyes, her beautiful laughter, her thoughtful personality. To him, she was _real_. She was life.

With his mind made up and his pain unbearable, he strode out of his room and crossed the short hallway, barging through her door anxiously.

"Draco!" She looked up at his grief-struck face, the wave of tears sliding down his pale cheeks, and her heart ached at his state. She stood up from her bed, dropping her books and notes to the ground, not caring that they had fallen, and paced over to him. She hesitated, but lifted a hand to his cheek and gave him a worried look, "What happened? Why are you..."

Draco gazed at her silently, misery burning in his eyes as clearly as the snow that covered her window pane, "Please tell me what's wrong. Let me help you... Draco?" She stared at him questioningly, pained by how useless she felt.

"Hermione..." he called out her name and his dry, constricted voice provoked a sharp pang in her heart, "I... don't have time left."

"What... what are you trying to say? Draco, don't be foolish. You've got a lot of time. The war has ended. We have our freedom," she placed her hands on the sides of his face, "You have all the time in the world."

"No Hermione! I don't! Try to understand. I don't have _any_ time left. I _know_ this," a harsh sob escaped from Draco and he fell to his knees, tears continuing to flow.

Hermione kneeled down in front of him, her own voice filled with emotion; her own tears threatening to fall, "But- how?"

He didn't reply. His head dropped down and he stared at the floor, the long strands of his platinum blonde hair falling to the sides of his face.

_**Grant my last request,  
And just let me hold you.  
Don't shrug your shoulders,  
Lay down beside me.  
Sure I can accept that we're going nowhere,  
But one last time let's go there,  
Lay down beside me**_

Hermione brushed her hand across his cheek, moving his hair away from his face and tilting his chin up to meet his sight, "Shhh.. calm down Draco. It's okay. I'm with you."

Draco's sobs grew stronger and he wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in the crook of her neck. His tears trickled down her shoulder and burned her skin as if she had been branded, "Please just stay with me."

She held onto him and motioned him to stand up, leading him to her bed. Hermione swept the rest of her things off her mattress and sat down in the middle of it, bringing his head down to her lap, "I'll be with you for as long as you want."

For a long while they stayed that way. Hermione stroked his head with feather touches, comforting him. She thought over the last few months. They had grown to tolerate each other after the war had ended. Both had their own separate wounds that needed healing and they understood that. Hermione knew that she wouldn't pester him about his family any longer, the family he had lost, and Draco knew that he would treat her like an equal, to make her believe that the war had changed people for the better. To their surprise, being civil to each other was easier than they had expected it to be. They shared many of the same habits and hobbies, which gave them a lot to talk about.

Slowly and steadily, without even realizing it, two rivals had fallen in love with each other; a tale for the storybooks. Hermione looked down at Draco, smiling sadly. She didn't know when she had started to cry so openly; she just knew that her tears were no longer under her control.

"Hermione," Draco's weak voice broke her from her thoughts, "Will you grant me one last wish?"

"Draco, don't you dare talk like that. You're going to be okay, and you know I would do _anything _for you."

"Lay down beside me."

_**Oh, I've found, that I'm bound  
To wander down that one way road.  
And I realise all about your lies  
But I'm no wiser than the fool that I was before.**_

Hermione shifted down so that they were lying beside each other, face to face. Draco draped an arm over her hip and pulled her closer, slow tears still being shed for the imminence of the night's end, of his end and of theirs. He ran his fingers back and forth across her smooth forehead and played with her wild curls as she stroked the back of his head soothingly.

"Don't you worry. You'll be alright. I'll help you fight."

Draco pressed his eyes shut, "Please Hermione, don't make me empty promises; don't tell me hopeless lies. I don't want-," he cut off mid sentence as he tried to choke back a sob, "I don't want to believe what you say. It'll only hurt me more when it's time to let go."

But he did believe what she said. His mind knew that there was no way he could survive tonight but his heart wanted to believe that she could save him. She was Hermione Granger; if anyone could save him, it would be her. A part of him screamed at himself, he was being foolish; but he suppressed that voice and focused on Hermione.

_**Grant my last request,  
And just let me hold you.  
Don't shrug your shoulders,  
Lay down beside me.  
Sure I can accept that we're going nowhere,  
But one last time let's go there,  
Lay down beside me**_

He knew that there was no future with her. There would be nothing more than the memories of tonight that he could take with him; that he could leave with her. But just for tonight, this one last time, he wanted to believe that he would have everything that he dreamed of. Hermione stared into his tempestuous silver eyes. She felt herself breaking down, but she had to be strong, if not for herself then at least for him.

When Draco spoke once more, his voice was barely a whisper, almost as silent as the world around them, "I want to have a life with you Hermione. I love you." He leaned forward and slid his lips lightly across hers, moving languidly, as if he had no more energy to spare. He pressed his lips a little more to hers and she pressed back, fuelling the fire that burned in both their chests.

"I love you too, Draco," she sniffled, "I'll be with you forever."

Draco moved closer to her and buried his head in the crook of her neck once more, the warmth of her body calming his senses, "Never let me go, Hermione."

_**One last time let's go there.  
Lay down beside me.**_

"We'll be together still, when you open your eyes again. We'll have that life. We've been through too much."

"I'm afraid."

Hermione pursed her lips tightly. Draco Malfoy was afraid. He was afraid of losing himself, but more so he was afraid of losing her and the life that they could have had.

"Don't be, love. Close your eyes," Draco obeyed her words, "Let's go there Draco, to that place that we want: the garden that is filled with flowers, the dress that I buy for our wedding, the Christmas tree that we decorate together, that fireplace where you and I are lying in front of right this moment. We're there Draco and we can live this life in the few moments we have."

Draco smiled at her words, opening his bloodshot eyes, and snuggled into her warmth. They had said all that they needed to say, felt all that they needed to feel and now, it was time to rest.

It was the night before Christmas, two lovers lay wrapped in each other's embrace, with the pregnant moon and glimmering stars the only witnesses to behold their undying love, for the first and the very last time.

Silently they lived only a few steps apart, silently they crossed the gulf that separated them, and just as silently did they slip away into their own little world, living their whole life in the space of one Christmas night.

"Happy Christmas, my love."

"Happy Christmas."

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